[V15C7] Two Witches Staring

The black-eyed Cyril pulled off his bandanna and stuffed it into his apron pocket, then stretched out his limbs.

He bent forward to touch his toes, did some knee bends, then rolled his shoulders with a heavy exhale.

“Hmm, a bit scrawny, but not bad. My hips and back feel so loose! And my knees don’t hurt! A young body is truly the best… Hmm…? But the shoulders are stiff for some reason?”

Cyril plopped down on a nearby tree stump, and even his manner of sitting was different from usual. He spread his legs wide and hunched forward. Like an old geezer, to put it bluntly.

“Girl! Come over and give me a shoulder rub!”

Cyril slapped his shoulder with a thwack loud enough to make Monica flinch.

“…A-Are you… Sophocles-san…?” She asked hesitantly.

“Indeed, it is I, Sophocles!”

Raul also came over after wiping off the last of his nosebleed.

“…What did you do to Cyril?”

“He is currently sleeping!”

Monica understood that ancient artifacts had the power to take over the mind or body of their wielder. However, she never imagined that Sophocles would do such a thing to Cyril.

Monica and Raul exchanged glances, then silently inched closer, whispering in hushed tones.

“Hey, Monica. Do you think it’s possible to force Sophocles out by brute-forcing it with my mana?”

“It should be possible with mental interference magic. I’ll come up with a formula to protect Cyril-sama’s mind, so give me a little time.”

“Sure. You can use as much of my mana as you need.”

“Got it.”

Two of the Seven Sages were calmly collaborating to eliminate him, and they looked completely serious.

Sophocles went pale and began shouting from his stump.

“Wait, wait, wait! What are you going to do with me!? I am the Keeper of Knowledge! Ancient wisdom is stored within my… Eek!”

Sophocles squealed and fell silent once he saw the eerie stares of Monica and Raul. Both were completely expressionless.

Monica and Raul hardly ever got angry, but when they did, the pressure they exuded was very disturbing. In that way, they were quite alike.

Meanwhile, they started whispering to each other in a low tone.

“Ancient artifacts that take over humans are generally classified as dangerous, right?” Raul asked.

“Right.”

“So we have to seal them away, yeah?”

“Yes.”

The two Sages closed in on Sophocles with the same expressionless stares. Sophocles scrambled backwards, slipping off the stump and flailing his slender limbs.

“No! Get back! Stay away from me! Someone help! I’m about to get violated!”

Monica and Raul paused to stare at the silver-haired young man screaming on the ground with tears in his eyes. Their eyes burned with quiet fury and disgust.

“…Um, can you please stop talking with Cyril-sama’s body?”

“Yeah. Cyril is going to be pissed when he finds out about this.”

“Why are you two acting so terrifying?!” Sophocles shouted. “And why aren’t you treating me with respect!”

Why did he think he would be treated with respect in the first place?

This reminded Monica of the time she confronted Yuan during the school festival. The Imperial spy had disguised himself as Cyril to infiltrate Serendia Academy.

She had been disgusted by Yuan’s disguise too, but this was even worse. The body used by Sophocles was undoubtedly Cyril’s.

Cyril always carried himself with such poise and dignity; that was why Monica respected him so much. And now, he was being made to scream and flail in a ridiculous manner.

Under the icy stares of Monica and Raul, Sophocles shouted back until he was red in the face.

“I would never do this for no reason, you know! It’s an emergency measure! Besides, I just saved you, didn’t I!? Show some respect to your savior! Waaah!”

Monica regained a bit of her calm at the mention of “emergency measure.”

Indeed, this was an emergency. She had almost forgotten because of the even more pressing emergency with Cyril.

“Come to think of it… where are we right now?” Monica asked.

“You fool! Why was that not the first question to come to mind?”

As a reminder, Sophocles was the one who demanded a shoulder rub during the emergency.

He scoffed through Cyril’s nose and sat himself down on the stump again. Of course, his legs were still spread wide like an old man.

“As I mentioned earlier,” Sophocles continued. “The tomes of the Fifth Forbidden Section contain sealed spaces. We have been trapped within one of those spaces.”

Raul also seemed to regain a bit of his composure. He set aside his hostility and questioned Sophocles in his usual tone.

“So, basically, we’re inside a forbidden tome?”

“That is more or less correct. Earlier, you dropped some blood on the bookshelf decoration, didn’t you? That is probably what caused this mess.”

Monica recalled what happened in the Fifth Forbidden Section.

A set of twelve tomes was displayed inside a glass bookshelf, and Raul broke the goddess carving on top of it. Then, the moment his blood fell on it, a voice echoed from the bookshelf. Not from one of the tomes—the bookshelf itself had spoken.

“Was that bookshelf an ancient artifact?” Monica asked.

Sophocles placed a hand on his temple with an expression of hesitation.

“Not quite, though it is quite similar to one. A monster is sealed within that bookshelf, after all…”

As Sophocles continued, he suddenly furrowed his brow as if holding back a headache.

“…Most likely, the seal was set to break when exposed to blood. There must be some condition on the blood type or the mana contained within, but I wouldn’t know the details.”

A magical tool that could set conditions on blood… Monica knew of such a thing.

The Black Chalice she created based on the blueprints of her father.

(But Ike said that ancient artifacts don’t have the power to identify bloodlines…)

The bookshelf seemed to have recognized Raul’s blood as “the blood of the witch”. However, it was too early to say if it detected his bloodline. Perhaps it knew ahead of hand that Raul was a descendant of the First Thorn Witch.

In any case, his blood lifted the seal on the bookshelf, opening one of the forbidden tomes.

After going over all of this in her head, Monica opened her mouth again.

“The seal over the Fifth Forbidden Section as a whole should still be intact. That will prevent it from affecting the rest of the Forbidden Archives, but we should hurry back just in case.”

“When we get back, Cyril’s definitely gonna chew me out for this…”

It was mainly Raul’s fault for breaking the goddess carving in the first place. He let out a dry laugh and looked up at the sky. Monica followed his gaze, looking up as well.

The sun shined bright in the blue sky, without a single cloud in sight. If this entire view was artificial, then it was remarkably well-crafted.

Meanwhile, Sophocles spoke in a weighty tone.

“The name of this book is ‘The Botanical Specimen Garden’. Author unknown. That is all I can say.”

After saying that, Sophocles made a pinching motion beneath his nose, reminiscent of a man stroking his mustache.

“I am normally restricted from speaking about forbidden books, though it seems that restriction has been lifted now we’re trapped inside one. Hmm… I must say that this is a first, even for me.”

Now that she was used to it, Monica noticed that Sophocles’s gestures were similar to those of an old professor.

She raised a small hand, as if asking a question in class.

“Um, Sophocles-san. I wasn’t able to use magic earlier, but you were able to cast a defensive barrier. Why is that?”

“This book is ‘The Botanical Specimen Garden’. Thus, it places certain restrictions on visitors to prevent them from damaging the plants.”

When Sophocles spoke seriously like that, he wasn’t so different from the usual Cyril. Aside from his eye color, of course.

But in the next moment, he crossed his arms and laughed.

“Mufufu. Well, I am an ancient artifact specializing in barrier magic, you know? Overcoming this sort of restriction is a piece of cake for me! Now do you see how great I am? Well?”

He was rubbing his chin and practically sneering at them, something Cyril would never do.

“Now then, you must be itching to give me a shoulder rub, yes? Of course you are. Mufufufu…”

“…What should we do if we want to use magic?”

“Hmm, I can lift the restriction for you as long as you stay in physical contact with me.”

The two Sages exchanged glances with each other and nodded. Monica promptly grabbed Sophocles’s right arm, and Raul took his left as they started walking.

The height difference between Monica and Raul made it so that Sophocles’s left side was being lifted by Raul while his right side was dragged down by Monica, leaving him in a terribly lopsided posture.

“Alright, let’s find the exit!” Raul said.

“Right!”

Sophocles screamed as the two dragged him along.

“Wait, wait, wait! This is practically a kidnapping! Show some respect! Don’t mishandle me like this! Hey! Respect! Respect!”

＊　＊　＊

In a forest filled with the sweet scent of flowers, the caretaker of the garden felt his heart leap with joy.

Lively voices echoed from afar. From the same direction, he could also sense what he had been waiting for—the soul of the witch.

“Ah, surely, the Great Witch has found our God…”

This was a garden, but also a graveyard.

An eternal garden for their god to rest.

“Welcome back, Great Witch.”

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